Reduced NICMOS imaging will be made public to allow a directcomparison of NACO and NICMOS imaging in J,H bands (photometricaccuracy, depth). By complementing NICMOS data with NACO K-band dataone will be able to further improve the determination of the IMF ofthe bulge stars. A catalog and a FITS image in H+J band of the NICMOS fieldis also available for such comparison (courtesy of M.Zoccali).

Imaging and Spectroscopy of the Pluto-Charon system

Attempt observations of occultation of a GSC star by Pluto on July 19-20. Spectrosopy in K and L bands.

ExpTime:

Obtaine 5-10 images/sec during the ~3 minutes of the occultation (0.1sec individual exposures). Spectroscopic program requires a total of 3hours. Total time needed to complete Pluto programme: 6 hours

Conditions:

clear, seeing <1.1"

Objective:

The pluto stellar occulation of July 20th, 2002 offers a rare andunique oppurtunity to probe the chemical composition and physicalparameters of the Pluto atmosphere (detailed and updated informationon this event can be found at this website, maintened by B.Sicardy). See also these detailed notes by A-M. Lagrange.
NACO spectroscopy of the Pluto-Charon system in the 1.8 to 3.6 micronrange will give access to important molecular absorption bandsto probe composition differences between Pluto and Charon.

Observations of proto-planetary candidates with the aim of detectingcircumstellar (CS) material around young stars, measuring theirsizes and asymmetries. HST observations have revealed CS disks for both HR4796(with NICMOS, Schneider et al. 1999), and HD 163296 (with STIS, Grady et al. 2000). NACO coronographic observations will allow the CS to be imaged with aspatial resolution better than HST. NACO polarimetric observationswill allow the polarized light from the disk to be separated from theunpolarized light from the star.

Two targets only to be selected from list above(sorted by priority)Typically, 1 hour/filter. Specifically, for IRAS 17150-3224 & IRAS18184-1302: 24min in J, 16 min in H & 12 min in K on source ->2*52min+overheads=3 hours. Total time needed for two targets: 6 hrs